Assassins Creed 2 is satisfying and amazing in everyway you can imagine compared to the first one. The parkour is still amazing and fluid to play out; AC 2 never stops being engaging and a joy to play.

In 16th century Venice and Florence (renaissance Italy), players will see the landmarks of Italy replicating its real life counterparts in AC 2. The sheer size of the gaming environment has bigger cities than the ones seen in AC 1.  

If there’s one thing for a fact, it’s that the missions in AC 2 are definitely not repetitive and are enjoyably varied. I’m sure this is a huge sigh of relief for anybody who had to experience the repetitive mission’s structure of AC 1.

The storyline is much more linear now, making it easier to follow. The people you meet this time round are a lot more interesting and lively, mainly due to the magnificent voice actors bringing life into the characters.

Without spoiling too much Desmond is now back in the animus by choice this time and is in the shoes of his 15th century ancestor Ezio Auditore da Firenze. 

After his family is betrayed and both his brothers and father are killed, Ezio is on the road to retaliation. Destined to be an assassin and anxious for answers of his father’s death, Ezio is willing to kill anybody involved in his family’s death.

In AC 2 there is now an economy, you can earn florins (money) for completing missions, looting people/corpses and finding treasure chests easily discovered within the gaming environment.

You can also receive income from your Uncle Mario’s villa, by upgrading the buildings and businesses to rake in a tremendous amount of cash. If there’s one thing your never short of its money. This is just one of the generosities the game offers. 

Money earned can be spent to buy new weapons, armour and even a different colour of robes. Last but not least let’s not forget the doctor who can replenish your health instantly or give you health potions and poison for your hidden blades.

The generous amount of health potion slots available will often make players feel careless about loosing health, when you know that by pressing left on the d-pad your health will be refilled. It’s a handy feature to have but at the same time makes the game feel easy, especially during fights.

Fighting mechanics are pretty much the same as the last game, with the difference being an array of weapons to try out on enemies. A disappointing return of the enemy AI just waiting to be whacked has returned in AC 2, without any improvement.

Luckily it’s not a big deal in AC 2 as experimenting with different weapons in battle is a distraction to the predictable AI in battle. On the upside you can now disarm enemies in battle and throw dust into their eyes when you’re unarmed. Best of all though is shanking two enemies at once with your duel hidden blades.

The stealth elements are a lot stronger now, long gone are the days where you would pretend to be a monk to blend in with the crowd. By walking into any crowd of people in AC 2 you automatically blend and remain hidden from enemies.

The only time you’ll really need to utilize this feature is if you’re hiding from guards, other than that there is only a minute selection of missions where stealth is an absolute must.

New to AC 2 is a wanted level or notoriety system similar to Grand Theft Auto games. By far the easiest way to bring down the heat on you is by tearing down wanted posters.

Majority of the posters are all placed in blind spots or high buildings where guards are either non existent or out of view, making it hard to believe that anybody could possibly recognize you let alone guards.

One of the side activities in the game is to visit secret tombs and collect secret artifacts. The tombs are a great way to showcase AC 2’s exactly transitioned parkour. This is probably the best platforming in a video game seen for while.

This defiantly wouldn’t have been possible without the great minds of the level designers. Other side activities include courier service, chasing pick pockets and collecting feathers to name a few.

When it comes to presentation AC 2 is a magnificent replication of renaissance Italy just blooming with aspiring colour schemes. The overall presentation is absolutely stunning. A credit to this would be when Ezio synchronizes with view points and the camera revolves around the city scope and Ezio.

The cities and the people are a lot more organic, there are a vast amount of citizens who can be heard having different conversations. You’ll now see people painting, fixing buildings and shop owners shouting away about how their better than the competition.

Thieves and mercenaries can be hired to help you when you’re outnumbered or escape from guards to live to fight another day. Courtesans or whores can also be hired when you need to distract an enemy to gain entry into a heavily guarded location.

There’s never a dull moment in Assassins Creed 2, swimming and using a gondola is among the many other fun things to do in this game. AC 2 is everything the first game should have been and more, which is more than anybody expected from a sequel to AC 1.

I would even go as far to say that AC 2 stands tall in 2nd place next to GTA when it comes to open world sandbox games. With the completion of the game racking up to 20 hours plus this is one game you would be crazy not to put on your Christmas list.

9/10